U.S. to Protest Nazi Press Attacks; Spurred by Slur on A.J.C. Women

March 12, 1937

BERLIN (Mar. 11)

Diplomatic representations to Foreign Minister Konstantin von Neurath over abusive language used by the Nazi press in reference to America will be made tomorrow by United States Ambassador William E. Dodd in behalf of the State Department.

The representations, marking the latest development in the controversy that began with Mayor LaGuardia’s attack on Chancellor Hitler before a luncheon of the American Jewish Congress Women’s Division, will be couched in sharp terms, it was learned.

Particular exception is expected to be taken to Der Angriff’s terming the guests at the luncheon “women of the streets.” This had been protested by the American Jewish Congress Women’s Division in a telegram to the State Department in Washington signed by Mrs. Stephen S. Wise, the president.

Mrs. Wise asked the State Department to obtain an apology from the German Government after the Department had expressed regret to the German Embassy in Washington for the New York mayor’s characterization of Chancellor Hitler as a “brown-shirted fanatic who is now menacing the peace of the world.”

LaGuardia also proposed that Hitler’s figure be exhibited in a “chamber of horrors” at the 1939 New York World’s Fair.

Mayor LaGuardia, meanwhile, continued to bear the brunt of the Nazi press’ resentment, with American Jews such as Felix M. Warburg, Governor Herbert H. Lehman and Paul Baerwald coming in also for sharp attacks.

The mayor was depicted by Das Schwarze Korps, organ of Hitler’s elite guard, as a gorilla perched atop a skyscraper with the cartoon captioned: “King Kong busy in New York.”

The New York governor was branded, “Jew Lehman, descendant of the murderers of Christ, ” by Julius Streicher’s Der Stuermer. Das Schwarze Korps bracketed the Governor’s picture with Mr. Warburg and Mr. Baerwald as “Jewish inciters against Germany.”